The Interchange

The U.S. Forest Service’s Roadless Rule, adopted in 2001, restricts new road building and timber harvest on tens of millions of acres of national forests to preserve habitat, watersheds, and backcountry integrity; ending it would expand industrial access, fragment ecosystems, and burden agencies with costly, permanent road maintenance. Conservation and tribal interests warn that opening intact landscapes invites erosion, invasive species, human-caused wildfire ignitions, and carbon loss, while diminishing wildlife corridors, clean water, and outdoor recreation values that depend on roadless areas remaining undeveloped.